Living Spirit Ministries International
Is There Any Comfort?
by
John Hannah
Is
there any comfort when there are no answers? I would like to argue that
the
deepest comforts you will ever receive come to you from the hand of God
and are
not attached to answers. But how is there any comfort when there are no
answers?
I
think each one of us has experienced personal tragedies. I can remember
going
through a very deep tragedy in our family. If you have gone through
tragedies
for which you do not know the answers, you may be aware that people
come and
provide an array of what appears to them to be comfort. Bur oft-times
what they
say is really no comfort at all. You listen to the comfort they
provide, but
you find out that when you sit in your living room after the children
have gone
to bed, you will still wonder if there's any comfort or anybody in the
universe
to provide it. What people sometimes say at the moment of tragedy is
more wish
fulfillment than reality.
That
experience happened to me. I felt for a while that I was overwhelmed by
a sea
of uncertainty and fear, and I wondered if there was any comfort in
this world
or any strength to be had for my situation.
Job shares some insights
gained on the anvil of experience.
When
there are no answers, is there any comfort? To help answer that
question, I
would like to turn your attention to the book of Job. Job shares with
us some
insights he gained on the anvil of experience.
The
story line in the book of Job is simple. You all know, I trust, that
Job was a
very prosperous fellow. He had enormous wealth. But through a series of
tragedies over which he had no control, he lost not only his wealth and
property, but also all of his sons and daughters and all of his
livestock. In
the midst of all that tragedy he was stuck by a gruesome, terrible
illness that
left him sitting in a heap of ashes, wondering why all of it happened.
To
make matters worse, Job had three uncomforting friends who came by to
offer him
comfort. They basically said that the reason this tragedy had come upon
Job was
that he had dishonored God and become the object of his wrath. That's a
lot of
comfort! As he sits with sores all over his body and tears on his face
for lost
sons and daughters and property, he has to listen to three thoughtless,
ignorant friends. That has been my experience also. People who lack
insight and
perspective are always ready to offer what they perceive to be
infallible,
impeccable revelations.
Job
answers his three friends. One of his answers is correct, but two are
wrong.
It’s because of his wrong answers that God finally speaks to
him. But Job was
right when he said to his friends that it wasn't personal sin that
caused his
tragedy. Their basic opinion was that tragedies come upon us as a
retributive
action of God, a punishment for something that we have done. Job
replies to his
three friends correctly by saying to them, "Look, I've done nothing.
I'm
innocent. I'm a righteous man, but I have lost my sons, my daughters,
and all
my wealth."
They
were wrong. Job was a righteous
man.
However, in the midst of his suffering, which was very real and
poignant and
terrifying, he did say two things that were wrong. He said that God
must be an
uncaring God. He must not understand. He must not really be kind or
care for
people, because he let things happen. Not only that, Job also said what
had
happened to him was evidence that God was not in control of his
universe.
Job
accuses God of two things. He says to him, "You don't really care for
me.
And even if you do, you are not able to care for me." Those are the two
charges that I think every one of us, in the midst of our suffering,
raises
against God.
We
may not do it loudly, but we whisper it in our subconscious in order to
find
comfort. "God, do you really understand my sorrow? Do you really know?
Do
you really care?" Then, as the temperature gets hotter, we often say to
God,
"Are you really in control at all?"
Job
goes on to say that he wishes he had never been conceived. Furthermore,
he
wishes, since he had been conceived, that he had died in childbirth.
But God
has granted neither wish, so he wishes that God would at least take his
life in
his present circumstance.
In
Job 31:35 he says this: "Oh, that I had one to hear me…let
the Almighty
answer me!" In the midst of his suffering he cries out to God. He
raises
the question that you and I have raised repeatedly in the tragedies of
our
experience. It is the question that makes us shudder when our children
ask it:
the question, "Why?" Three times in this book Job says to God,
"Answer me! Tell me! I want to know why."
Job shares some insights
gained on the anvil of experience.
Beginning
in chapter 38 God does answer him. What is found in Job 38-42 is the
longest
discourse in the Bible in which God speaks. Finally God says he will
offer some
answers to Job's questions. Job has said to God, "Because I sit here in
these ashes, because my children are only a fond memory, because I have
lost
everything I possessed, you must not care for me. But if you do care
for me you
are incompetent to provide for me."
So,
in chapters 38-42, God speaks to Job. What is amazing about this is
that God
speaks to Job out of a whirlwind. In the Bible a storm is often the
occasion in
which God reveals himself. It's like the storm that brought ruin to
Job, and
destroyed his family. This time through a similar whirlwind, God brings
not
ruin but revelation, not tragedy but disclosure. The amazing thing
about what
God says is how he says it.
God
raises seventy questions. With those seventy questions, he says to Job,
"Job, how deep is your understanding of things? How much do you really
know?"
There
are two discourses here. One begins at chapter 38, verse 4, and
continues
through chapter 39. In this discourse God is answering Job's charge
that God is
unkind. Job has said, "Because God has treated me this way he is
basically
uncaring. What’s worse, he is essentially unfair. He is
unsympathetic. He lacks
a real understanding of me." Haven't you ever said that in the
quietness
of your heart, when the whirlwind of tragedy has blown through your
life and
through your family? "God, I know you're there, but I don't think
you’re
listening. I don't think you care. I don't think you understand." And
then
out of the whirlwind God speaks.
Notice
what he says. Beginning in verse 4, he raises a multitude of questions.
With
them he says to Job, "Job, how much do you know about how much I care?
How
much do you know about my wisdom? How much do you know about the way I
order
the universe?" Notice that there are no answers. There are only
questions.
God
picks things out of nature and asks Job what he knows about them. He
says,
"You accuse me of not caring, but what do you know about the animals?
Do
you care for them, Job, like I do?” Look at verse 4: "Where
were you when
I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have
understanding."
Or read verse 8: "Who shut in the sea with doors?" In the Bible the
sea is always the symbol of chaos and disorderliness. God has tamed the
seas
and he has made the earth.
In
verse 12 God asks, "Have you ever in your life commanded the
morning?" I think one of the great gifts of God is the rising of the
sun.
This morning I got up early and had the pleasure of sitting on my patio
watching the sun rise. When it broke over the trees a cool morning
became a
warm morning. This is God's gift to us every day. "Have you ever in
your life
commanded the morning? Job, just how intelligent are you?
Job
also accuses God of a lack of kindness.
In verse 16 God asks, "Have you entered into the springs
of the
sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death
been
revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? How much
do you
know, Job?" Later he asks, "Has the rain a father, or who has
begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb did the ice come forth, and
who has
given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?"
God
is saying, "Think, Job. You are accusing me of being uncaring. You are accusing me of not
understanding, of
being unsympathetic. But I have made a world the depth of which you
will never
understand. It's running in perfect order and symmetry. That's how much
I love
it."
Then
God turns to animals. This is one of the most beautiful passages in all
the
Bible. If you ever doubt the care of God, if you ever doubt his
sympathy, read
these verses. In chapter 39, beginning at verse 1, he says, "Do you
know
the time the mountain goats give birth? Are you a lover of nature? Do
you
observe the calving of the deer? Can you count the months they fulfill,
or do
you know the time they give birth? Will the wild ox consent to serve
you?"
It will serve God. "Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his
neck with a mane? Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,
stretching
his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts
up, and
makes his nest on high?"
I
can feel for Job when he makes this first accusation. I've been in
pain. I've
had physical pain, but the greatest pain in all of my life has been the
suffering of emotional pain. I have been there. I have been there when
the
darkness was darkest. And unfortunately I have said to God in my
smaller
thoughts, "God, you must not care, because if you really loved me like
the
Bible says you do, you would never have allowed this to happen." That's
Job's first accusation. But what God is saying to Job by raising all of
these
questions is this: "I am a God of infinite care and love and concern
for
my creation. If I am concerned when the goats give birth, if I am
concerned
that the sun rise every morning, isn't it reasonable, Job, that what
you are
accusing me of is a lie?
The
second discourse begins in chapter 40 at verse 6. God again speaks out
of a
storm, a symbol of God's awesome presence. Here from chapter 40, verse
6
through chapter 41, God is answering the second accusation brought by
Job
against him. It is that God is unable to control the universe that he
made,
that it is of out of his hands, that God is weak. At best he is inept
and at
worst he is incompetent and has no power to rule.
To
answer this charge, God speaks about two animals. Both of these animals
are
associated with life in the waters. The sea is a symbol of chaos and
also a
symbol of evil, and these big animals are symbols of the chaos of life.
God is
saying, "If I can control those animals, then this world is not
chaotic."
When
the Pharaohs of Egypt were crowned, they symbolically slew two animals:
a
hippopotamus and a crocodile. The behemoth in chapter 40 is a
hippopotamus. The
leviathan in chapter 41 is a crocodile. Those Egyptian Pharaohs were
showing in
symbolic form that when they came to rule in
These
are large animals. The behemoth weights eight thousand pounds. He lives
in the
water. He is an uncontrollable beast. Man cannot tame him. Notice verse
15:
"Behold now, Behemoth (the hippopotamus), which I made as well as
you…If a
river rages, he is not alarmed; he is confident, though the
To
make the metaphor even stronger, in chapter 41 he takes up the
leviathan.
Leviathan, most commentators are willing to say, is the great Egyptian
crocodile. God says, "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook? No
one
is so fierce that he dares to arouse him. Who then is he that can stand
before
Me? Who has given to me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the
whole
heaven is mine."
Job
makes two accusations of God in the midst of his suffering. He says,
"God,
you do not care for me. For if you did care for me, the tragedy that
has
overtaken me would never had occurred. Disappointment, pain, and mental
infirmity are alien from the loving care of God." Then Job says, "If
you do care for me, you cannot control the universe that you have made.
You are
incompetent and inept."
Job responds to God’s
replies.
Then
after each of God's answering discourses, Job makes a reply. For his
first one,
look at chapter 40 verse 3. "Then Job answered the Lord and said,
‘Behold,
I am insignificant; what can I reply to Thee? I lay my hand on my
mouth.’"
Job is saying, "I have no right to accuse you of not caring, because
you
have made nature. You control nature and provide for all the animals of
nature.
If you provide for them, simply finite creatures, how much more must
you care
for and love me."
The
second discourse brings a second response, found in chapter 42 at verse
6.
After the first discourse Job was humiliated. After the second
discourse, Job
repents. "Therefore I retract," says Job. "I repent in dust and
ashes." Job is saying, "I am sorry for saying that you don't care,
because I know you care. I am sorry for saying that things are out of
control,
because you are in control."
But
the point to be made is this: Job had a terrific change of mind, but
did God
give him any answers? No. God gave no answers, but he overwhelmed Job
with the
knowledge of his presence.
Is
there any comfort when there are no answers? Most of life is spent in
that
sphere. My reply is this: There is comfort, and that comfort comes from
a
reliance on the revealed character of God. God has revealed himself
truly to
us, but he has not revealed himself completely. God has called us to a
confident faith that is real faith.
We're
living in the twentieth century, which has elevated and perhaps
perverted the
parental character of God. We have forgotten his awesome transcendence.
Not
only does he love us, but he is also above us and controls all of
life's
circumstances. No wonder worship is sometimes sterile and dry when we
think
that God is the sum of our arguments and the sum of our finite
knowledge.
There
are no explanations here. There is no justification here. All that we
have is
an overwhelming of Job by the revelation of God's ways.
The
tragedy that most shook me, I believe, was when my wife returned from a
gynecologist's appointment some years ago to say what to me are the
most
horrifying words I think a lady can say when she returns from such an
appointment. She said, "In my routine checkup today the doctors
discovered
a lump."
I
am not very fast in my mental apparatus, but I learned what that can
mean. For
six months we struggled with that. At that time we had a four-year-old
and a
two-year-old. I struggled at night, after I put her to bed, saying to
myself,
"How will I ever raise my daughters if I have to raise them alone?"
For six months I thought that. I would try to be brave, because that's
the male
image.
I
would put my wife to bed and then go out in the living room and turn
off the
lights. In the darkness of those moments with my Bible in my hand, I
discovered
the greatest comfort that can ever be given to a human being. That
comfort is
not a knowledge that everything will be all right, but a knowledge that
everything is under control. It is a knowledge that we have a God who
is
infinite in his mercies and in his kindness.
What
comforted me in the tragedy was not the answers--because there were
none--but
the character of God. I realized that God cared for me. He cares for
the goats,
he cares for the deer on the mountains, and he cares for me. I found
out that
this world is not chaotic. He controls the behemoth. He controls the
leviathan.
He controls all chaos. He is infinite God and I am finite man.
So
I could turn out the lights and go to bed and rest, not in my
knowledge, but in
confidence in the very character of God.
And
I say to you, my friends, that you may go through awful tragedies. When
your
friends go home, their wish fulfillments stated, and you are left
alone, what
is the source of your comfort? My answer is that the source is not
knowledge,
but in the character of God. He is good. He is infinite. He is full of
mercy.
As
I was writing the end of my sermon yesterday, the telephone rang and a
student
said, "Last night my child died." What could I say to him? I will say
to him what I would say to anyone. It's captured in this gospel song:
"When the darkness veils his lovely face, / I rest on his unchanging
grace; / when all around my souls gives way, / he then is all my hope
and
stay."
Is
there any comfort when there are no answers? The deepest comforts do
not come
from answers. They come from knowing God.
(c)
John Hannah